OUCH: AOL Getting Less Than $10 Million For Bebohttp://www.businessinsider.com/ouch-aol-only-getting-10-million-for-bebo-2010-6/comments
en-usWed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500Fri, 18 Aug 2017 01:13:32 -0400Jay Yarowhttp://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1a31bd7f8b9ae90a080000DilThu, 17 Jun 2010 10:31:25 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1a31bd7f8b9ae90a080000
Exactly, aol destroyed Bebo by not fiercely push the darn thing, exactly the same as what happened with ALL of their acquisitions. Well and then there is the case where they fiercely pushed ad.com over the cliff, and the case with TW where they fiercely fought the turf battle and got annihilated. integration and execution is hard shit.
80% of all corp acquisitions destroy value, the other 20% are all done by cisco.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1a073c7f8b9ae603730000What fantasy!Thu, 17 Jun 2010 07:30:03 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1a073c7f8b9ae603730000
What fantasy world did you live in? I was out there and I remember Joanna keeping AOL at bay so we could have our independence. During that period, I remember some good parties, more delicious lunches, the installation of a great DJ booth, but pretty much no new features launched for 10 months. The only achievement on the content side seemed to be the wind down of Kate Modern, and the only achievement on the engineering side seemed to be notches on DC's bedpost. And something about us being down for 3 days that Joanna complained about, but who remembers? If anything, I'd say the lack of Michael's fierce push to get us to a sale is what doomed things -- once he was gone, things fell apart.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19d1487f8b9a541a680300MithunThu, 17 Jun 2010 03:39:52 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19d1487f8b9a541a680300
Blunder? More like a crime!http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19ada27f8b9a9b72b10000Maneesh DhirThu, 17 Jun 2010 01:07:45 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19ada27f8b9a9b72b10000
I was an EVP under Ron and Randy and fully supported their decision to buy this great social network. I was personally focused on making AOL an international powerhouse and in a short span of two years made that possible by launching AOL in 38 countries. Likewise, Ron and Randy and their executives made great progress towards making Bebo a top-notch social network.
There have been quite a few negative discussions on this website about how the senior executives did not do a good due diligence before buying Bebo. Frankly, I am not surprised at the level of those discussions; we executives knew that our biggest challenge at AOL was an ignorant and low-quality workforce. If you ever become a senior leader, which none of you will ever be, you will know that you don't need due diligence. You need the intuition and other leadership qualities which we the AOL leadership had.
I am tired of people complaining the Bebo deal and wanted to set the matter straight. It is Tim, not Ron, who is selling Bebo for $10 million. We would have made it a multi-billion dollar property had Jeff Bewkes not back-stabbed Ron abruptly.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c195d077f8b9ada65710000ibquixoteWed, 16 Jun 2010 19:23:51 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c195d077f8b9ada65710000
Wow, this makes AOL's purchase of Buyat for $125MM and sales two years later for $17MM look like one of the better deals AOL has made recently.
Good going AOL!http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c194bef7f8b9aa712d60200AgreeingWed, 16 Jun 2010 18:10:55 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c194bef7f8b9aa712d60200
@bebo veteran:
I agree- what's not being broadcast is that this is not so much a story of AOL overpaying- it's a story of a completely wasted asset. Bebo had fantastic people, doing great stuff, with a great culture when TA took over. It wasn't that Facebook took over- it was that Facebook was allowed to win.
What's interesting is AOL's lack of true self-reflection on this. The buck has been completely passed to others. It's a case in point for why this company will continue to fail.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1949c97f8b9aa712e00000SheeshWed, 16 Jun 2010 18:01:45 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1949c97f8b9aa712e00000
Dude, who are you?! Your rosy, AOL-pumping comments keep showing up on all the AOL posts. You're pretty obvious. Get real. Quit shilling and blowing smoke.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1947b87f8b9a8012440000Bebo veteran Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:52:55 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1947b87f8b9a8012440000
We were executing at full speed when all of a sudden support dropped out with the leadership change and the V's came... sign.... I guess we share the same fate/experience as the ad.com guys.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19466f7f8b9a2a62270000positivityBrightFuture!!!Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:47:27 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19466f7f8b9a2a62270000
And I am sure AOL will only leave more and more negativity and baggage behind us in the coming quarters. The future is never brighter!!!http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19453e7f8b9a9d383d0300DilWed, 16 Jun 2010 17:42:22 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19453e7f8b9a9d383d0300
Dow was at 7170 on 3/12/2009 when Tim took over, it closed at 10404 today, for a 45% gain. Yeah Tim is THAT good!http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19311c7f8b9a665b960000BenWed, 16 Jun 2010 16:16:28 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19311c7f8b9a665b960000
When Tim Armstrong took over, MySpace was getting decent traffic and producing some cool features. It's been under his watch that the company has floundered...
Oh wait...http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19257c7f8b9abe6e150000goodnessWed, 16 Jun 2010 15:26:52 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19257c7f8b9abe6e150000
At least AOL can now get out from under the negativity that has surrounding this debacle and not look back as it plows ahead with the exciting and fruitful content initiative. The news from the latter over course of next few quarters will hopefully put this dog to rest. Yes, it was a debacle and the gist for many MBA papers well into the future in the how not to do an acquisition.
Whether this debacle caused jobs or not is immaterial but the fact is the jobs were going to go away anyway as the dialup business moved to $0.
Thankfully most of the crud has now been left aside and all that is left is the gem of the content driven businesshttp://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1922257f8b9ab729140000PeterWed, 16 Jun 2010 15:12:37 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1922257f8b9ab729140000
Oh, I thought it was Facebook that caused the downfall of Bebo.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1921b87f8b9a7068070000MikeDWed, 16 Jun 2010 15:10:48 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1921b87f8b9a7068070000
Before everyone piles on with the Rondy comments, let's look at the timing of this thing. TA took over 15 months ago, only a few months after Bebo had been acquired. While it may have been an over-priced purchase, the fact is that when TA took over, Bebo was still getting good traffic, and producing some cool features. It's been under his watch that the company has floundered.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1920f37f8b9a4850080300PhoenixGradWed, 16 Jun 2010 15:07:30 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1920f37f8b9a4850080300
"10 million or less", I believe that is the actual quote.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19204b7f8b9ae926b30900PhoenixGradWed, 16 Jun 2010 15:04:43 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19204b7f8b9ae926b30900
You may not be a Strayer grad but you still haven't established that link between Bebo and layoff. both appeared to have happened around the same time does not create a causal relation.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c191e567f8b9a4c28ee0000UghWed, 16 Jun 2010 14:56:22 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c191e567f8b9a4c28ee0000
All I know is that maga blunder cost a lot of us our jobs..... and before you go on and on about everyone being a Strayer grad (which I am NOT, thank god), there were a few good people that got caught up in the multiple rounds of layoffs because of this dog of an acquisition.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c191af67f8b9ae14f2d0000TylerWed, 16 Jun 2010 14:41:58 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c191af67f8b9ae14f2d0000
Who is paying $10 million for Bebo?
Is it even worth anything??http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c191a237f8b9aa4275b0000ArggWed, 16 Jun 2010 14:38:26 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c191a237f8b9aa4275b0000
Anyone and everyone who was involved with this acquisition needs to be outted.
They should all be fired from what ever job they have and NEVER BE HIRED AGAIN, anywhere.
How do these idiots get these jobs? Seriously! $850 million for a POS social site?http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19157f7f8b9ad85a430000sgkriWed, 16 Jun 2010 14:18:38 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c19157f7f8b9ad85a430000
Amazing how the likes of Falco and Grant can commit such blunders and get away with it, while everyone else realized what a colossal blunder it was "while it was happening".http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1913bc7f8b9aad4c370000clickbotWed, 16 Jun 2010 14:11:08 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1913bc7f8b9aad4c370000
Now *that's* deflation :-)http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1911dc7f8b9a2521770100FredZWed, 16 Jun 2010 14:03:08 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4c1911dc7f8b9a2521770100
I guess the Bebo founders are the next Mark Cubans